Heartbeat
by raven612
Summary: Adam gave his life to save Phoebe and now she is torn. Does she stay in the world of the living and breathing or will she give her own life in order to be with Adam forever, or could she possibly bring him all the way back to the world of the living...?
1. Impaired

Heartbeat

**Heartbeat**

**By: **Raven612

**Chapter 1: **Impaired

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything dealing with the book Generation Dead it is owned by Hyperion and by the amazing author who wrote it, Daniel Waters! I strongly recommend this book to everyone it is amazing!!

**Summary: **Adam gave his life to save Phoebe and now she is torn. Does she stay in the world of the living and breathing or will she give her own life in order to be with Adam forever, or could she possibly bring him all the way back to the world of the living with her love for him, but then what about Tommy? Phoebe knows it's still dangerous to be seen with the living impaired kids because Pete is still on the loose but they all need to take a stand against Pete and the rest of the world that has yet to accept the differently biotic kids.

**A/N: **There is a huge spoiler for the book in this chapter but you should still go buy the book or rent it or something and read it because it is solo amazing!!

**FLASHBACK**

He heard a crash somewhere in the woods down the path, and then he heard Phoebe shriek.

He ran down the path, calling her name. At first he thought maybe Tommy did something he shouldn't have, but then he saw Phoebe standing with Tommy, and he saw Pete Martinsburg standing at the edge of the path, training a rifle on them.

On Phoebe.

He ran, calling her name. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

He heard Master Griffin's calming voice in his head.

_Focus, _he said. _What will you do with your power?_

Adam reached Phoebe just as Pete pulled the trigger.

…

Phoebe fell to her knees in the dirt beside Adam's body, tearing the hem of her pretty white dress as she did. Adam had gone over as if leveled by an invisible tackler. It looked like the wind had been knocked out of him, and his big body seemed to deflate as he'd hit the ground.

…

"He's going…into shock," Tommy said.

She could feel his life ebbing through her fingers.

"No, Adam!" She said, "Don't go! Please, God; don't go, Adam!"

Then his eyes focused and he looked right at her and opened his mouth to speak. He was trying to say something but he was choking, and she was telling him, "Shh, help will be here soon."

He smiled at her, but then she saw the light leave his eyes. His large frame gave a massive convulsive shudder, and then he died.

**END FLASHBACK** (This is from some of the last few pages of the book, not from me, Daniel Waters wrote that originally, but here now is my writing)

Phoebe sat bolt upright in her bed, Gargoyle made a noise at his master for disrupting his sleep. Phoebe had been having the same nightmare for the past three nights. She keeps going back to the woods and reliving that horrible night; the night her best friend Adam Layman gave his life to save hers.

She shivered and pulled her comforter tighter around her body as she felt the first wave of sadness reclaim her. She shuddered as a sob raked her body and once again tears rolled down her face. She couldn't face going back to school after the incident had happened and so she stayed locked in her room for three whole days. Margi tried to talk to her, but Phoebe had to deal with her pain by herself. Phoebe lay down and rolled over to face her wall and willed herself to sleep.

She would finally be going back to school tomorrow morning, but not in the STD's truck and not with Adam. She didn't even know if she could bring herself to face him without becoming an emotional wreck. As she figured the STD blew up at the thought of having a living impaired kid living under his roof and so he sent Adam packing. Adam is the newest member to the haunted house.

Phoebe woke up slowly the next morning and dreaded going back to school. She pulled on a long black flowing skirt and a white tank top with an all black hoodie pulled over it. She brushed her hair and just let is fall flat around her face. She didn't even bother with her usual make-up. She just didn't have the energy and she knew she'd end up crying at some point again today and didn't want to worry about the black streaks of mascara that would roll down her pale cheeks.

Phoebe picked through her breakfast. Her parents knew to leave her alone so she could cope with her issues alone. As Phoebe left she mumbled a quick good-bye to her parents. As she walked outside to board the school bus she couldn't bring herself to look next door at Adam's house.

Phoebe got on the bus and blindly made her way to the back to sit with Margi. She was vaguely aware of Colette and Tommy watching her, but she couldn't face them at this time.

"Hey," Margi greeted sadly, her perky pink spikes seemed to be a little droopy today.

"Hi," Phoebe mumbled back, neither had the heart or energy to put in their usually always present iPod nubs.

"Stupid question, but, how are you Pheebls?" Margi asked with genuine concern.

"I'm not sure," Phoebe answered honestly as she slumped lower into her seat.

Tommy turned in his seat to look back at Margi and Phoebe, Margi noticed and nudged Phoebe, "Tommy looks like he might want to say something to you," Margi said.

Phoebe lifted her gaze until she met the lifeless eyes of Tommy Williams. He looked as though he wanted to apologize to her. Phoebe nodded her head and Tommy turned back to face the front of the bus.

She didn't blame Tommy for the death of Adam, she blamed herself. She knew Tommy and some of the other differently biotic kids felt bad for her but she didn't want anyone else's pity. She also knew that eventually she would have to face Adam and talk to him.

As the bus pulled to a stop in front of the school all the kids got off and the dead kids slowly shuffled out and onto school grounds. Margi and Phoebe were making their way to their lockers when a cold hand grabbed onto Phoebe's arm. She stiffened and turned to see Tommy holding onto her.

"Phoebe, I just want to tell you…how sorry I am….I should've been more…observant," he said to her as he let go of her arm.

Phoebe gave a weak smile, "I know Tommy, I don't blame you for it, it's just hard for me to deal with right now," she admitted as she tried to make him feel better.

"I'll see you…around," he said as he slowly made his way to his locker.

Phoebe nodded as she rejoined Margi and they arrived at their lockers.

"You know we'll most likely see him at lunch and you should talk to him, it'll probably make you feel better, I always blamed myself for Colette's death, but after you got me to talk to her some, I felt immensely better," Margi said trying to make Phoebe feel better.

"I know I should talk to him, but I don't know if I could do it without breaking down in front of him," Phoebe admitted sadly.

Margi rubbed her best friend's back, "I know, but I'll be there with you when you decide to talk to him, to face him."

"Thanks," Phoebe said with a real smile, she was starting to feel better, but she missed Adam immensely. "I think I'd like to try and talk to him during lunch, I just miss him a lot," Phoebe said as she and Margi started for their classes.

Phoebe found herself actually dreading going to lunch. She had spent much of her day looking at her black boots as if her life depended on her memorizing everything about them. She was just avoiding looking at students for fear that she'd see Adam among them. The bell rang signaling it was time for lunch.

Margi caught up to Phoebe and tried talking to her, "So did you see him anywhere?' she asked.

"No, I haven't been looking for him," Phoebe admitted sadly to her friend.

"Me neither, do you think we have the courage to face him now?" Margi asked with the hint of a smirk on her face.

Phoebe smiled a little, "I suppose we better dive right in."

Margi and Phoebe, almost as if by instinct made their way to their usual table where they always sat alone with Adam. Phoebe and Margi simultaneously dropped their lunches on the table. They now shared the table with Karen and they had grown used to her and her picnic she had laid out each day at lunch.

"Hello guys," she greeted in a chipper voice. Karen's pale skin looked flawless as usual and her legs were smooth and beautiful as she showed them off by wearing her usual short skirt. Here eyes shone like diamonds and you could imagine the sparkle in them, but sine she was dead there was no natural sparkle, just the reflection of the lights.

"Hey," both Phoebe and Margi greeted.

"I know this is probably going to be hard for you Phoebe, but I really think you should talk to Adam as soon as you feel up to it, he misses you a lot," Karen said warmly as she placed her cold dead hand over the top of Phoebe's.

Phoebe sucked in a breath, "Yeah I know, I was actually going to talk to him today, right now, is he in school?" she asked noticing that he wasn't at the table.

"He's here, but I don't know what's keeping him we both left for lunch at the same time, but I lost him somewhere," Karen said as she looked around the crowded cafeteria.

Phoebe was still amazed when Karen spoke and moved. She wasn't slow and clumsy like some of the other dead kids in the school. The night that Adam had died saving Phoebe's life Tommy admitted that one of the things that seems to "bring back" some of the dead kids was love. He said that those of him who had parents that loved them unconditionally and accepted them moved and spoke much like the living kids. He had also told her that maybe if a dead kid could get enough love he thinks that it might be able to bring them all the way back to the world of the living.

"How do you loose a big dead kid?" Margi asked as she opened her milk carton and started to take a sip.

Karen just shrugged with a smile, "I just found him," she said, and Phoebe turned to look where Karen was looking.

She knew she was looking at Adam, but it looked nothing like him. He had become very pale; almost a blueish color and his eyes were lifeless. She noticed the corners of his mouth twitching; she thought he must be trying to smile at them. She offered him a smile but a lone tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey Phoebs, Daffy," Adam greeted like nothing had happened.

Both Margi and Phoebe were quiet while they watched Adam slowly take a seat next to Karen and across from Margi and Phoebe.

"Oh Adam," Phoebe began but burst into tears. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

Adam moved from his seat across from her and sat next to her.

"Hey Phoebe, it's okay," he said trying to soothe her, his voice didn't sound like it used to, it had lost it's life and Phoebe only cried harder when she heard him speak.

"Adam, I'm so sorry," she said as her sobbing died down and she wiped away her tears.

"It's okay Phoebe, hey life's not so bad when you're dead," he joked.

Phoebe playfully punched him in the shoulder, "Dead and still joking about it."

Margi had also begun to cry and she hastily wiped away her tears, "What's the football team going to do now that they lost you?" she joked trying to bring back a feeling of happiness.

"I don't know, I was thinking of staying on the team and seeing what the coach does seeing as how it was one of his players that killed me in the first place," he said his hand still resting on Phoebe's back.

"Adam, don't you think he'll treat you like he treated Tommy, and what if the protesters come back, what if they do you in for good?" Phoebe rambled on.

The sound that came from Adam sounded almost like exhaust coming from a dying car and Phoebe guessed that it his way of chuckling. "Bring it on, I'm already a zombie."

Phoebe had then noticed that his movements and his speech were like Karen's. It wasn't slow and labored, she wondered why this could be, his family threw him out, they didn't show him any love at all after his death. She wondered if it was because she loved him and so did Margi, but in a friendly way, and because they didn't push him away.

That night in the woods the EMTs and the cops arrived but Pete was long gone. Phoebe often wondered where he went and if he would ever show up again. She knew that his business with her and the rest of the names on the list wasn't over yet. She also knew that he must have gone insane but she also knew he knew where the haunted house was and so she feared he would show up there and finish off all of the dead kids who lived there.

The ambulance took Adam to the hospital and although he had died before they got there and came back again they did try to get his heart beating again. It had worked for about ten minutes before he died and came back again. While he was dead the doctors decided to repair the damage done to him by the rifle shot. Adam's mom had come to the hospital after hearing what had happened. She didn't stay long, just long enough to apologize and tell him he could get his things but he couldn't stay with her and the STD. She then ran and never looked back.

"Hey Phoebs, ya there?" he asked noticing the vacant expression on her face.

"Yeah, sorry just dazed out," she said with a faint smile. She still had trouble looking at Adam or looking him in the eyes.

"I wonder if I could still toss around a Frisbee or even catch one, I could use it tonight," he said to her.

"We could try, I could use it too," she said as she, without thinking of what she was doing because it was almost second nature to her, rested her head on his shoulder.

**A/N:** So what do you think? I'm not sure how many people will read this since there isn't a section under books for Generation Dead, but those of you who do read it please review!!


	2. Author's Note

**Authors Note**

Hi all! I just thought I'd type this up for all of you who are keeping track of and reading the stories I am currently working on. I just wanted to inform you all that I'm going to be getting back on track with these stories, and you can expect updates within the next couple days. I had a lot going on here on my end, my grandpa passed away recently so I've been dealing with that and supporting my family and so on and so forth. So now everything is kind of winding down so now I plan to update these stories within the next week.

Disturbing Behavior

Road Trip

Heartbeat

Thanks for sticking with me, I promise to redeem myself ^_^ lol also I need to catch up really bad on the stories I'm reading!!


	3. Frisbee

**Heartbeat**

**By: **Raven612

**Chapter 2: **Frisbee

**A/N: **So I wrote this originally before Kiss of Life came out and so all the stuff I wrote about Adam is waaaay off base with what is actually in Kiss of Life. But for the sake of my story I'm just going to stick to my guns and keep Adam the way I have him in my story so that there isn't a whole lot of confusion. I'll try and work some stuff from Kiss of Life into this story like Pete and his community service and The Son's of Romero. I'm also happy to see that you all like this story and I'm so glad they made a Generation Dead section so I could take this story from the Misc. section and put it in its rightful place! So enough of my pointless rambling, here goes!!!

………………….

Crickets were chirping outside Phoebe's window and a light breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees in her yard and neighborhood. The chill from outside crept in through her window and swirled around her body. She shivered, but didn't lose her place as she read Tommy's latest blog. A soft tap on the window, however, had her jumping from her chair and made Gar growl in protest from his spot on her bed. She smiled when she realized who it was, Adam. She grabbed her hoodie and pulled it on zipping it up to her chin so the autumn air wouldn't freeze her. She walked over and slid her window all the way open.

"You still up...for our date?" Adam rasped.

Phoebe smiled down at him as she slid from her window onto her roof; she expertly navigated her way to the ground and joined him. She hugged his cold rock hard body and smiled up at him, "I would never forget a date with you," she reassured him. She saw his mouth twitch and guessed he tried to smile.

"Good," he moaned and slowly turned away from her. Adam had started to take lessons from Master Griffin once more, and going on Master Griffin's advice Adam has asked his family if he could come back to live with them. Phoebe had accompanied Adam when he asked a second time, and Phoebe wasn't sure if it was because she was there or they really wanted to accept him, but they allowed him to move back in.

"I'm glad your back home, now I don't have to worry about Takayuki trying to get you to join his gang."

"Smiley tried…said I'd make a good…partner," Adam confessed as he hobbled slowly to the other side of their lawn, for now, since neither could drive, they would have to play Frisbee outside their houses.

Phoebe nodded and she spun the Frisbee around her index finger. "I think Karen might be in on their pranks, but she won't say, she gets guarded whenever I try to ask her about them." She tossed the Frisbee through the cool air towards Adam; it plunked right off his chest and landed in the grass a few feet in front of him. His arms twitched, but didn't respond in time to catch the Frisbee.

"She could be…Tak really seems to…like her and she makes…it a point to…talk to George when…ever she can." Adam wheezed as he bent to pick up the Frisbee, it took him a few tries to get his fingers to respond the way he wanted them to.

Phoebe shivered at the mention of George and the mental picture of him chewing on some road kill, "He's an odd one."

A wheeze comes from Adam and Phoebe guesses he was trying to chuckle, "And you…Margi…and Collette aren't weird?"

Phoebe gave him a look and put her hands on her hips and jutted them out one way, "Adam Layman, how dare you compare such fine creatures as Margi, Collette, and I to someone like George," she said in a mocking tone.

"So…sorry," he seemed to stutter, his arm flexed and bent out from his body in an attempt to throw the Frisbee, but his fingers didn't respond and it stayed in his cold, dead hand. His arm vibrated and jumped around as he attempted to throw the Frisbee back to Phoebe. She watched him; she didn't want to interfere because she wanted him to keep trying. After a few more minutes of his arm uselessly jumping around the Frisbee jumped off his fingers and landed on the lawn right in front of him.

"Maybe we could just sit and talk?" she suggested walking towards him.

"No…I can throw a…damn Frisbee," he said almost forcefully, like he was telling himself he could do it more than he was telling Phoebe.

"Okay," Phoebe said and took a step back and waited for him to retrieve the Frisbee from the ground once more.

It took a few more minutes last time, as the Frisbee had now gotten slippery with the dew from the grass. Adam had it in his grasp and his arm bent at the elbow, and it almost looked like he would be able to throw it this time. Instead of actually throwing it, the Frisbee just toppled from his grasp as he was unbending his elbow. It did manage to bounce a couple feet away from him. He stared down at it then looked back up at Phoebe, "Sorry, I guess I'll have to work on throwing next time I'm with Master Griffin."

Phoebe smiled and on her way over to Adam picked up the Frisbee. "Don't worry, you're doing a lot better, don't over exert yourself." She elbowed him for good nature and smiled as she led them to the porch swing behind her house so they could sit and talk.

"Don't worry…about me…" He wheezed as he slowly, yet heavily fell into the swing next to her.

Phoebe used her feet to gently sway them back and forth; Adam's sneakers scrapped along the concrete and added an eerie noise to the outside symphony. Phoebe looked over at him and found him staring off into her backyard, out into the woods. She cleared her throat before she started talking to get his attention. She didn't wait for his head to fully turn towards her before she started talking, "So uhm…did…did…did it…uh….hurt?" She asked him slowly and painfully.

"What?" he asked her, his face got screwed up and looked to be a more painful expression rather than a confused one.

"When you got…shot." She whispered and was reaching out a hand to touch where the bullet had gone through him, but stopped in mid-air not sure if she should touch him.

Adam turned his gaze to her hand, and before he answered her he slowly raised his hand and covered hers with it and guided her hand to his chest where his wound was. "It hurt…on…only for…a…mo…mom…moment, but…it was…worth it…and I…would…do it…again."

Phoebe looked up into his gray, lifeless eyes, and her own began to water. She knew Adam loved her, and in a way as more than just a friend, but she herself wasn't sure which type of love she felt for him. Sure she would be eternally grateful for what he had sacrificed for her, but her feelings were all mixed up. A few tears slid down her cheeks and she sniffed a few times before drawing her freezing hand back into her own chest to warm it. "Adam…I," she stopped to take a shaky breath before turning her body to face him, "I will never be able to tell you how grateful I am for what you did, and how much it means to me, bu-" she was cut off when she heard a guttural sound emanate from Adam.

"Don't" he wheezed forcefully, "don't say…anymore…Phoebs…I'm happy…being with you…now…don't say…some…thing…to kill…the…mood," his mouth twitched as he tried to smile.

A few more tears fell before Phoebe could find her own smile. She nodded, sniffed, and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She had a feeling that the reason he stopped her was because he didn't want to hear she had to say, but she knew it would be unfair to him; to let him think or to make it seem like right now she had feelings for him as more than a friend, she didn't want to hurt him like that. She just wasn't sure how she felt, and she wouldn't say or do anything to make it seem like she had deeper feeling for either Tommy or Adam. For now she would be there for Adam whenever he needed her and she would supply him with encouragement and all the love she could give as a friend. As her mind raced around all her thoughts she snuggled into Adam, which felt like she was cozying up to a huge block of ice. "Thanks, Adam," she whispered as she looked out across the lawn. She felt his arms awkwardly try to curl around her shoulders, but it didn't quite work out and fell uselessly straight across them.

**A/N: **Sorry so short, but this is all I wanted to have in this chapter. Will have a much longer one next time!! Review, and let me know how you liked it!!!


End file.
